Roasted eggplant soup and the hate-list from my childhood

February 10, 2010

Some twenty years ago, if someone told me ‘It’s kathrikkai (eggplant) soup for dinner’ I’d have won the 100 metre sprint. Yeah, eggplant was probably the only vegetable in my hate-list. Sometimes my tongue would itch after I ate a piece of this, so I hastily assumed that I’m allergic to eggplant and lost no time in informing all concerned about this significant development in my life!

The other two food items that didn’t impress me with their strong tastes were asafoetida and gingelly oil. My grandmom would use ‘katti-perungayam‘ (asafoetida cake) which was broken into tiny pieces, and a couple of small bits soaked in water in a small ceramic pot, ready to tip into any waiting sambar, rasam or kozhambu. Sometimes, a small chunk of this asafoetida would fall into the sambar and guess who’s plate it would land into? Yours truly of course, and this bitter gooey smelly thing was enough to spoil my taste for the rest of the meal.

Gingelly oil or ‘nalla yennai‘ – oil extracted from sesame seeds yet not exactly the taste of sesame oil used in Chinese cooking, is another favourite in Tamil homes. Used with thuvaiyals, used to light brass lamps and to mix molagai-podi, the spice powder had with idlis and dosais has a golden yellow almost amber colour and a distinct smell. In my younnnger days, my mom / granny had standing instructions from me that there would be no gingelly oil smeared on my idlis and the molagaipodi should be mixed in regular refined oil, not the ‘smelly’ oil.

Today, all of the above has reversed. May be my tam-bram genes are finally expressing themselves or I’m just growing up. I love eggplant, the big variety, which I use to make at least ten different things from all cuisines of the world. Type ‘eggplant’ in the search field on this blog, and you’ll find at least ten results (I hope).

Asafoetida I cannot live without, in fact I have some four types of these in my pantry – LG Katti Perungayam, yes, the very same I loved to hate, Vandevi compounded asafoetida, Goldie’s pure asafoetida granules and LG asafoetida powder. That should say it all.

Gingelly oil, I make sure I never run out – for the lamps we light everyday, for the idli / dosais we eat at least once a week and for the kozhambu / thuvaiyals we eat around once a fortnight.

How things change!

So coming back to what I said, if someone told me Brinjal Soup – I’d say ‘ God’s must be crazy to give you such an idea’ but today, the new and improved me, is making such stuff for a low-carb, healthy soup. I must say I got the inspiration for this from a column in The Hindu, but the recipe is entirely my own.

Some twenty years ago, if someone told me 'It's kathrikkai (eggplant) soup for dinner' I'd have won the 100 metre sprint. Yeah, eggplant was probably the only vegetable in my hate-list. Sometimes my tongue would itch after I ate a piece of this, so I hastily assumed that I'm allergic to eggplant and

Smear the eggplant with some oil and roast directly on the flame, turning sides*. In under 7 minutes, the skin will be completely charred and the eggplant softened right through. Keep aside to cool. Peel the skin, chop flesh roughly and keep aside.

One by one, pierce the tomatoes with a fork and grill on open flame, until entire skin is charred. Each tomato will take around 2-3 minutes. Peel when cool enough to handle. Chop roughly, discarding the seeds.

In a small wok, heat 1 tsp olive oil. Fry the garlic cloves and onion slices on medium heat, till golden and soft.

In a blender, puree the eggplant, tomato and softened onion-garlic to a fine paste, using water / vegetable stock as required. Season with salt, pepper. Bring this to a simmer in a pot, adding dried basil at this stage.

Remove in bowls, topping with some olive oil and freshly crushed black pepper. I topped mine with some Cajun seasoning for a nice kick.

Recipe Notes

Serve with soup sticks for a light dinner or with a nice foccassia bread and pasta for a complete Italian meal.

It was a yummy soup with deep adult flavours, a nice farewell to the lovely winter we experienced in this new city! I have a feeling, this soup will taste good chilled too.

*If you don't have access to an open flame, use the method described in the recipe from The Hindu.

Comments

“Sometimes, a small chunk of this asafoetida would fall into the sambar and guess who’s plate it would land into? ” i can almost imagine this scene happening..:))very nice post..i didnt knw you hated all that!!

It’s amazing how your tastes and preferences evolve over a period of time! Cooking for yourself does lead to more experimentation and even foods you’d normally have stayed away from become a source for trying out innovative and more likable ways to make them. The soup sounds very interesting, almost like a liquid baingan bharta ?!

I’ve been a eggplant lover since birth (this I’m not sure… but for as long as I can remember). I used to hate ginger in dishes, my mom used to put small bits of it in khichdi and guess who got the biggest piece. That’s why I grate my ginger, so my son doesn’t get a big piece. Eggplant soup looks awesome.. will try.

Welcome back N, trust little one doing well! :)LOL @ your hate list. I don’t think I had any I can remember. Guess I was too busy playing outside and too tired to notice what I was eating!I replied your q there at FH. In short, you don’t have to soak Chana dalia, but heat it 1 minute at a time so you burn them, that’s all. They get soft first and then crisp as they cool.

It’s so funny…when we grow up and look back at our younger selves – they seem like such strangers!I have to admit, I was quite suspicious of eggplant soup when I first saw the title to the post (even though I don’t hate eggplant). But if you give your word that it’s not as weird as it sounds, I’ll give it a try one day!

Nandita, Hi!Recently found your blog and I must say you have one of the most unique recipe collections I have seen for a while.Coming to eggplant, isnt it funny that I loved eggplant since childhood…the big eggplant, the small round variety – you name it.Will definitely be back on your blog again and again and again:)))

Hi,@hatelist I remember hating potatoes..when i was little,especially if they were large pieces in curry.And lavang in boondi laddu…i still hate it when it ends up right inside my mouth spoiling the entire experience with its loud flavour!